Dr. Daniel P. Toma is a professor of Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN. He has been teaching at MNSU since 2006. Prior to his present appointment, he conducted research for six and a half years in La Jolla, California at the Neurosciences Institute, a private institute studying the brain and the biological basis of consciousness. He received his PhD in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999 in genetics. He received his B.S in microbiology from Indiana University in 1986. Between his undergraduate and graduate degrees, he taught high school for three years in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Over the years, Dr. Toma has taught many courses and accrued wide experience in the sciences including: introductory biology, introductory genetics, entomology (insects), human genetics, invertebrate biology, and microbiology. While a high school teacher he taught both chemistry and physics classes.

While not teaching, Dr. Toma spends time with his family, or works in his two large gardens, orchard, and takes care of his honey bee colonies, ducks, and one large Airedale terrier and immerses himself in the beauty of nature about him.